John Frederick Hertz is a

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

lawyer and long-time

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

fan.

Background

Hertz came to the Los Angeles area in the late 1960s, after living in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. He got his baccalaureate degree at

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its f ...

and graduated from the

Northwestern University School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law scho ...

. He has been an attorney in California since 1982.

Activity as a fan

Winner of the Big Heart Award at the 61st World Science Fiction Convention (Toronto, 2003), he is active in the

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

community, publishing the fanzine '' Vanamonde''. Four collections of his fanwriting have been published, ''West of the Moon'' (2002), ''Dancing and Joking'' (2005), ''On My Sleeve'' (2009), and ''Neither Complete nor Conclusive'' (2013). He was nominated for the

Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer The Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer is the Hugo Award given each year for writers of works related to science fiction or fantasy which appeared in low- or non-paying publications such as semiprozines or fanzines or in generally available electroni ...

in 2006, 2007, and 2009. His poem "That hill -- a giant" was awarded third place in the 2020

Dwarf Stars Award The Dwarf Stars Award is an annual award presented by the Science Fiction Poetry Association to the author of the best horror, fantasy, or science fiction poem of ten lines or fewer published in the previous year. The award was established in 20 ...

s (for science fiction poetry of ten lines or less). The fanzine ''

Argentus ''Argentus'' was a science fiction fanzine edited by Steven H Silver. It won the Chronic Rift Roundtable Award for Best Fanzine in 2009 and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine three times (2008–2010). The magazine ended publication ...

'' (2004) contains an interview with

Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are ''Ringworld'' (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, ''The Mote in God's Eye'' ...

's fictional character, Hanville Svetz, co-authored by Hertz and Niven. At conventions, Hertz can be found moderating panels, leading Art Show tours, or judging the costume competition called the

Masquerade Masquerade or Masquerader may refer to: Events * Masquerade ball, a costumed dance event * Masquerade ceremony, a rite or cultural event in many parts of the world, especially the Caribbean and Africa * Masqueraders, the performers in the West ...

. He can be easily spotted at conventions sporting a colorful

propeller beanie In the United States, a beanie is a head-hugging brimless cap, sometimes made from triangular panels of material joined by a button at the crown and seamed together around the sides. Beanies may be made of cloth, felt, wool, leather, or silk. In ...

. He is also renowned for his stewardship of

Regency dance Regency dance is the term for historical dances of the period ranging roughly from 1790 to 1825. Some feel that the popular use of the term "Regency dance" is not technically correct, as the actual English Regency (the future George IV ruling o ...

. Hertz has perpetuated the Regency dance tradition at science fiction conventions in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

since the 1980s, with the practice continuing to the present day. Hertz currently instructs dance workshops and choreographs balls across the nation, and in addition has written an article on

Regency era The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer period between and 1837. George III of the United Kingdom, King George III succumbed to mental illness in late 18 ...

dancing, included in the ''West of the Moon'' collection. He also wrote ''The Tenor of Terpsichore: Or Dances in the Fashion of the English Regency as Done By Certain Modern Admirers of the Same.'' Hertz serves as one of the Rotsler Award judges. He was the 2010

Down Under Fan Fund The Down Under Fan Fund, also known as ''DUFF'', was created in 1970 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and popular members of science fiction fandom familiar to fans on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. History DUFF was create ...

delegate to

Aussiecon 4 The 68th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Aussiecon Four, was held on 2–6 September 2010 in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The co-chairs were Perry Middlemiss and R ...

, the fourth

World Science Fiction Convention Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...

to be held in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Also in 2007 he was sent by the one-time fund HANA (Hertz Across to Nippon Alliance) to Nippon 2007, the first

to be held in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. He was Fan Guest of Honor at Lunacon44 in 2001,

Westercon Westercon (occasionally WesterCon; long version West Coast Science Fantasy Conference) is a regional science fiction and fantasy convention founded in September 1948 by Walter J. Daugherty of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society. The original ...

57 in 2004, Loscon 38 in 2011 and Special Guest at Boskone 50 in 2013.Boskone 50 Website
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References

External links

John Hertz, fanwriter

''Fan Gallery'' Bio

John Hertz, Regency choreographer and dance instructor

Book notes by John Hertz on LASFS website (originally from defunct Collecting Science Fiction Books website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hertz, John American choreographers Antioch College alumni Living people Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni Lawyers from Los Angeles Science fiction fans Year of birth missing (living people)